Alina sat furiously wiping the tears from her face as Katarina paced angrily several feet in front of her.

“So, he wants to marry you. Maybe you should tell your father that you’d rather set your skirts on fire than agree to it!” the redhead burst out suddenly, flinging her hands in the air.

“It… It’d be good for our kingdoms. I had just assumed he… he didn’t want to marry me because I’m… weak.” The words choked Alina, her deepest insecurity coming forth from the dark shadows of her heart.

Yet Katarina didn’t hear the silent declaration over her fuming. “He forces my brother to fight him like that… I’m shocked Tam even managed it without throwing up! Normally as soon as things get too intense he starts going pale and stumbles away…” turning swiftly and plopping herself down beside the dejected Princess, the Viscount’s daughter let out a very loud groan. “I wish I could’ve jumped into the ring and gotten a few swings myself at that giant lu-”

“What’s this about taking a few swings?”

The two young nobles jumped at the voice behind them. As they turned around swiftly, both Alina and Katarina found themselves staring up into a pair of deep blue eyes framed by golden wisps.

“Ah, Hannah! It’s just you,” the redheaded Lady flopped back on the grass in relief.

“Glad to see you too, Kitty Kat. Your Highness,” the blonde aide curtsied dutifully to Alina who bobbed her head awkwardly. “So ladies, what is all this excitement about?”

“Well, the Troivackian King made my brother duel him in the training ring, then brought up his Troivackian blood. After that, he told Alina he decided to marry her and that she should stop attending her courting dates.”

Hannah blinked several times. She then straightened her shoulders and rested her hand on her hip while a small frown creased her forehead.

“Huh.”

“Is that it?! ‘Huh’?! The infamous kitchen aide who nearly killed a man with my dad’s frying pan?! Where’s the thirst for blood?!” Kat demanded sitting back up with bits of grass still caught in her red hair that was quickly growing more and more disheveled despite being pinned to the back of her head.

“I’m getting old, give me a break,” the blonde replied dryly. “Besides, Kitty Kat, I love you, but you tend to get fired up before gathering all the information. So I take what you say into consideration, but I’d like to hear-”

“Alina was there! She can vouch for me! The Troivackian King really did all of that!” Katarina announced while reaching over and tugging on the Princess’ sleeve.

Rubbing the remaining tears away best she could, Alina turned to face the maid shyly. She hadn’t spoken to the woman before, and she hadn’t refuted nearly clubbing a man to death which made her a mite more fearsome than her slight physique suggested...

“It is true…” Alina managed to confirm her friend's tale slowly.

Hannah’s mouth stretched to the side as she slowly crouched down to be eye level with the nobles. “So, do you want to marry the King?”

“Of course she doesn’t! He’s an arse! A bully!”

“Kat, I was asking the Princess, let her answer.” Hannah shot the redhead a patient yet warm glance before turning her stare back to Alina. “Go on.”

“I… I don’t think so. Honestly, I feel more comfortable around his brother, but… if I married the Troivackian ruler our marriage would do really wonderful things for the kingdoms. I can’t ignore that this could change the future relationship in a more positive way,” Alina’s voice croaked as she gripped her sleeves a little more tightly.

“Wouldn’t marrying the King’s brother, a Prince, have similar results?” Hannah asked gently.

“Maybe, but… if the King wants me as his wife it could cause an even greater divide…” It was then the overwhelming hollow ache in Alina’s belly began. It was familiar, and painful…

She wanted to talk to her mom.

The Queen would know what to say… she could help her daughter figure out what to do and she… she would hug her like when she was little and-

“Perhaps try talking about this with His Majesty. Your father is a fair man, and a wise one. He might have insight that could be helpful.” Hannah’s kind voice had interrupted the usual spiral of grief the Princess found herself on when she started thinking of her mum. So she slowly turned back to the conversation in the present, moving away from the usual fog of sadness she could become lost in for days…

“My father is a great ruler but… when it comes to me…” Alina blushed. “He’s more than a little biased at times.”

“Lucky,” Kat sighed, while blowing an errant wave of red hair out of her face.

“Kat, your parents give you plenty of leeway. You just don’t appreciate how hard they’re trying to make sure you don’t-”

“Turn out like an arsehole?”

“I was going to say alienate everyone around you, but sure, that works, too. Look how persnickety Mr. Howard is for instance!”

Kat’s flat expression suddenly livened with a mischievous smile. “What a great idea Hannah! Bothering him always cheers me up! Alina, do you want to come with me and help me find some new prank to play on him? One time I stole every left shoe he owned and he went bonkers for a day.”

“That was you?! We all thought he had a spontaneous mental breakdown for a week for no reason!” Alina’s jaw dropped and her eyes rounded.

“Well, I mean… he did, I just was… an unknowing catalyst to it is all…”

“You’re playing with that word ‘unknowing’ as though you don’t know what it means,” Hannah remarked with narrowed eyes.

“Look, I honestly didn’t expect him to be bed bound from the incident. How could I have known that he was going through bad insomnia at the time?”

“Everyone knew,” the maid replied drolly.

“Well, I thought it’d get him to loosen up a bit is all. He was only visiting Austice for a month, and everyone was saying he needed to find a distraction from all of the work he was trying to handle with interviewing mages…”

Hannah sighed, she knew a losing argument with Kat was better conceded early on. “Listen you, I admit, you can be funny,” the maid tapped her index finger to the Lady’s nose, making Kat's golden eyes cross for a moment. “Sometimes though, you need to reign yourself in. Otherwise you’re going to stress your parents and whoever you end up marrying into an early grave.”

“I don’t even want to get married. I wanted to try and be a Knight, but Mum and Da were unanimously against it.”

“Given how seldom they seem to agree on anything pertaining to you and your brother, you should take it to heart,” Hannah pointed out before standing with her knees cracking in several different places. “Now, I best return to see what Ruby wants me to do, and Princess?”

Alina looked up at Hannah, her throat still felt raw from emotion despite enjoying the banter between Kat and the maid.

“Don’t worry, these things have a way of working out. Just do what you believe to be right, and don’t lie.”

Hannah gave a small reassuring smile and turned back to the castle, leaving the two young noblewomen to their plights.

“Don’t let her relaxed appearance fool you, when she gets riled up, she scares most of the Knights. Of course it doesn’t help that she is close friends with the Captain,” Kat explained while stretching back onto the grass and closing her eyes.

“Wait… is she the Blonde Kitchen Lass?!” Alina burst out excitedly.

Kat smiled. Five years after the Daxarian and Troivackian war, there had been a scholar who penned a work called, ‘The Great Mysteries of Austice’. The author had gone on to list the beautiful Blonde Kitchen Lass who remained unwed as one of the smaller mysteries of the infamous city, set behind the mystery of whether or not the King’s assistant would ever love again after having his heart broken by the Viscount Ashowan.

Unsurprisingly, the assistant had not handled his sudden fame well.

Hannah on the other hand had moved from the kitchen to be the right hand woman to Ruby with the intention of taking over her position as Head of Housekeeping once she retired. However, the author had lovingly noted a good deal about the Blonde Kitchen Lass, stating she wielded an iron skillet with ferocious tenacity when properly enraged.

“She nearly broke that poor man’s toes when he kept pestering her for the reasons she never got married,” Kat recounted fondly. “Or so my Da says. So you read that book did you?”

“Of course I did! Everyone was talking about it… I’m still curious where the body of the dragon wound up!” Alina smiled excitedly, her worries momentarily forgotten as she and Kat began diving into another fun, yet frivolous topic that would consume the rest of their day.

It was certainly a nice thing to have a friend, even if they weren’t able to solve any problems.

***

“Henry, as much as your energy was… appreciated… uh, you-”

“I was flat and it was terrible, I know. No need to mince words.” The Troivackian Prince laughed while reaching for the goblet of water that was set on the wrought iron table in the rose maze for him. Alina’s Ladies in waiting sat under the sunny day working on their embroidering, while she and Henry enjoyed the cool shade of the gazebo.

It was the day after the training ring incident, and Alina was determined to try and find a solution regarding the Troivackian King’s abysmal proposal before her father left with the suitors for the hunt.

“What if we didn’t use the lutes for this song? There is something raw and genuine about just a vocal duet sometimes,” Henry suggested as Alina stretched her arms with her lute resting in her lap.

The Princess visibly hesitated. “Are you… are you sure you can stay in tune?”

The Prince laughed. “Yes, I am. Perhaps, Your Highness, it is your barbaric hammering of the strings that is throwing me off my normally perfect performance,” he teased.

Alina couldn’t stop the blush or the chuckle that left her mouth. “I see your pride isn’t willing to let you take anything lying down.”

“While I am not like a Troivackian in many ways, my frayed pride is still holding fast.” Henry smiled roguishly before his lips relaxed slightly and his forehead stiffened. “By the way my… my brother didn’t happen to speak to you today at all, did he?”

Alina’s good humor disappeared instantly. “No, he hasn’t.”

“Ah… alright then… well… shall we try this song without the lute and see if we fare any better then?” the Prince swiftly returned to the safer topic and placed down his flute.

“Very well,” she agreed, but the Princess still wore a look of worry on her face over Henry’s question. Brendan Devark wasn’t going to try to talk to her again about their marriage, was he?

No, she had been very clear about not wanting to hear from him again. There is no way he would try to bring it up.

Unless of course he had talked to her father about it…

Giving her dirty blonde curls a small shake, the Princess tried to free her mind of worries she could do nothing about, and instead focus on matching Henry’s impressive volume.

Little did Alina know, near the entrance to the centre of the maze, the Troivackian King had been standing bearing witness to her rehearsal with Henry for quite some time. He remained rooted to the spot, his eyes never wavering from her, yet his presence went entirely unnoticed as his assistant stood equally as still at his side.

“Your Majesty, we never did get to send that missive to the Troivackian Court Physician, perhaps we should try to do so now?” Mr. Levin remarked softly.

Turning from the sight of his brother and the Daxarian Princess spending a perfect afternoon together, Brendan masked his face once more and strolled purposefully towards the exit of the maze.

“She has a lovely voice. It’s almost a pity she can’t sing louder. I imagine it is because of her breathing difficulties,” the assistant observed emotionlessly with his eyes remaining ahead.

“Yes. It is… unfortunate.” The King said nothing more, but even so, his response warranted the briefest of pauses in Mr. Levin’s calculated steps.

Once they had finally cleared the infamous maze and were striding back towards the east wing entrance, Brendan addressed his assistant over his shoulder once more.

“Once they have concluded, please send my brother to my chambers. I wish to have a word with him.”

The assistant bowed his head despite the monarch being unable to see. “Yes, Sire.”

*

Henry greeted several servants that passed him in the hallway with a smile before finally reaching his destination. Though despite his usual charismatic outward appearance, the truth was Henry was uneasy about Brendan summoning him. It was rare that he sought him out for a private audience. It was normally Henry that kept popping up and enforcing his company on his elder sibling...

Once he had opened and closed the door behind himself, Henry took stock of the room before him.

In less than a week, his brother had managed to turn the entire chamber into a sty much like his one at home. He had official documents spread out on the desk with little to no organization. His bed was unmade because he refused to allow any maids in the room while he worked- which was nearly always, and when he wasn’t he never bothered notifying the serving staff.

“Brother you sum-ah!” Henry tripped over one of Brendan’s boots that lay strewn on the floor. “You summoned me?” he finally managed after regaining his balance.

The Troivackian King looked up from the papers in front of him. He wore only a loose tunic and relaxed trousers, without anything on his feet… a sign that he had truly made himself comfortable.

“Yes. I have a question for you.” Brendan slowly stood.

Even without his black leather or armor, he was still a mountain that could dwarf anyone. Henry resisted the urge as he had for most of his life to take a step backwards, and instead smiled up at his sibling.

“Ask away, it was a pleasant surprise to hear you called for me in your-”

“I think the Princess is interested in you.”

Henry froze, then clamped his mouth shut.

“You aren’t an idiot despite what my advisors think, so I know you are aware of this fact.” the King pointed out in his usual toneless voice. Only there was something different in his face than the usual. Something more hesitant…

The Prince didn’t say anything, only shifted his weight on his feet awkwardly.

“Does she know of your… sickness?” Brendan asked carefully.

“Brother, I fell in love with a nomadic fortune teller, that is hardly-”

“You fell in love with a commoner who swindled you, and you still pine after her. I’d call that a sickness of the mind.”

Henry momentarily clenched his teeth.

After taking a long steadying breath, he straightened his shoulders. “Is that what you wanted to ask me about? If I had told the Princess about Kezia?”

“No, what I wanted to ask…” Brendan cleared his throat.

Henry’s face once again split into a grin. For his brother to become tongue tied? It had to be good.

“What I wanted to ask was… how did you make the Princess like you?”